Living in Oblivion- Movie Industry Practices

LIVING IN OBLIVION- Moviemaking and the making behind the movie

Living in Oblivion is an interesting movie because it takes the concept of movie making and all of the trials and tribulations associated with it and puts it onscreen for the viewer to see. It shows us the pain of setting up scenes and the friction between actors and cameramen. And since Living in Oblivion is specifically showing us the life of independent filmmakers and characters, it shows an even more slanted view of moviemaking because in general, independent films don’t have as much budget. This movie is basically about Nick, who is trying to direct a film. Nick is played by Steve Buscemi, who was on Boardwalk Empire recently and was also in the movie Fargo. Other characters that are part of his crew include Wolf (who is played by Dermot Mulroney) who is basically Nick’s right hand man and has to wear an eyepatch throughout the duration of filming (dream or otherwise) and Chad and Nicole, the main actor and actress of the production. It turns out that the production keeps going wrong and the point is further driven to the fact that each of these ‘productions’ is in fact inside the head of different characters including Nick and Nicole.

One of the more famous actors in this movie was none other than Peter Dinklage. He played Tito, who, in one of the character’s dreams, was the replacement to Chad’s character. He had to wear a silly hat and he was clearly not interested in playing the part that he was at all. Eventually he just gave up and left the production.

This movie was both written and directed by Tom Dicillio. Tom Dicillio had been a cinematographer prior to the creation of Living In Oblivion, but he would later go on to make a very important film in 2009. He would direct The Doors’ ‘When You’re Strange’  which looked at the band and had some rare footage strewn throughout the movie. In a way, you can kind of say that this movie is similar to Living in oblivion, production-wise. The Doors’ movie had to take a look at how The Doors did their things and how they created their music. Living in Oblivion is just about the same thing except that instead of it being with music, it’s more about the struggles of filmmaking as well as many bits of behind the scenes stuff. Both seem to be very similar. You also have very famous actors in both films- The Doors film had Johnny Depp in it and Living in Oblivion had Buscemi. Dicillo was very good at choosing which actors and actresses were the best for his films. And even though the movies were made about fifteen years apart from each other, they both seem to match certain qualities. Maybe this is just the way that Tom Dicillio likes to produce, direct, and write his movies.

To put it bluntly, Living in Oblivion was a realist-heavy movie, but it also had a slight hint of pessimism when it came to filming and the steps it took.

Twin Peaks Pilot- Movie Industry Practices

TWIN PEAKS TV SHOW- PILOT
The Twin Peaks TV Show began with a pilot episode in 1990. In  the pilot episode, a 17 year old girl named Laura Palmer had apparently been murdered in the town of twin peaks. There seems to be no motive, no cause, and few leads. To help try and solve the murders, the sheriff of Twin peaks, conveniently named Harry S. Truman, hires an FBI agent played by Kyle MacLachlan named Special Agent Dale Cooper.  The pilot episode is introduced with the murder of Laura and multiple people are interrogated and asked questions. But every twist and turn in this plot makes this idiosyncratic town more and more weird by the minute.

David Lynch directed Twin Peaks and he has been known for some extremely bizarre shows. One of his most weird movies was Blue Velvet, which was about a man who finds an ear in the middle of a field. Lynch’s work tends to always be very disturbing. He is also infamous for directing the 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Many of his shows and movies are very divisive and controversial because of his very strange taste and directing style. The interesting thing about Blue Velvet, however, is that he uses two of the same actors that were in Twin Peaks- Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini.

There were some very strange people associated with the Twin Peaks pilot as well. In an interview with David Letterman on February 27^th 1991, David Lynch revealed that there was a character at the end of the movie who was able to talk backwards. This, in my opinion, is one of the creepiest things I have ever seen in any show or film. What they did is they had the guy talk backwards and then reversed the tape so that it sounded like he was saying actual words.

Finally, although Twin Peaks was only on for 30 episodes, there has been much talk about the series being revived sometime soon. Kyle MacLachlan explained that it would be a pretty awesome show if it was to be revived, as he would likely be playing an older version of Special Agent Dale Cooper. If this were to happen, it would be quite an interesting show I think and it would be interesting too see how they continue the story and the legacy that they left over 20 years ago.

                

Sunset Blvd. Movie Industry Practices

SUNSET BLVD. –Plot, Industry Techniques and The Story  of Norma Desmond
 Sunset Blvd was a movie that came out in 1950 about the rise and fall of Norma Desmond and the silent film industry. This movie was a good example of the ‘unreliable narrator’ and it also showed how the Movie Industry has moved on from the silent films and production ways of the 20’s and 30’s, but that Desmond could not move on and began to suffer from narcissistic personality disorder as well as a major descent into madness.  The story of Norma Desmond tells us just how different the two eras were despite it only being a 20 year gap. It is pretty clear that Norma still believed in the silent movie era by some of the lines she said in the movie. One of her most famous quotes in the entire movie was ‘We didn’t need dialogue; we had faces!’ as well as another quote she stated ‘I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.’ These two quotes proves to us the fact that she just cannot move on from the silent film era, which by 1950 was pretty much dead and gone.

                Behind the scenes-wise, there were several interesting dilemmas that went into the making of Sunset Blvd. In an interview, Billy Wilder said that William Holden’s character of Joe Gillis was originally supposed to be played by another iconic film star, Montgomery Clift. Clift is known for movies like Place in the Sun (based on Theodore Dreiser; came out in 1951). Also, Sunset Blvd., according to Wilder, was originally going to be a comedy! They were originally going to cast Mae West, who is known for her comedy and vaudeville skills.
                Another interesting thing is that Wilder used the same cameraman and lighting director from Sunset Blvd as he used in another very famous Wilder film, Double Indemnity, which was also a noir film and came out in 1944- six years earlier. The cameraman’s name was John Seitz, who almost was able to win an academy award on several occasions, but never quite got there. Seitz is well known for being one of the most well known Noir cameramen in the history of Noir film.
                This film also shows an interesting point in that everything, including facial movements, body language and so on had to be greatly exaggerated. If you wanted to express sadness, you really had to look extremely sad. Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd is a great example of this because she was very aesthetically pleasing and photogenic during her time in silent films, and that is why everyone enjoyed watching her.

                Finally, as a really cool nugget of information, there are pictures of Gloria Swanson (the actress who played Norma Desmond) all over the decrepit mansion that Norma Desmond lived in. These pictures were taken when Gloria Swanson was in her prime when she used to do silent films.

                You can find the interview I used with Billy Wilder at this URL: http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue10/features/wilder/